198 
Fishery Bulletin 106(2) 
Conventional tagging 
The majority of conventional tag recaptures occurred 
within the January-May spawning season and thus 
indicated that P. areolatus are most vulnerable during 
reproductive periods, whereas the potential for sexual 
selection to reduce reproductive output was reflected in 
the male-dominated capture and recapture sex ratio and 
the high spawning-site fidelity shown by males within 
the reproductive season. Of the 647 P. areolatus tagged, 
59 individuals (9.1% of the total) were recaptured (Table 
2), including 39 individuals recaptured by commercial 
fishermen and 20 individuals recaptured at the KMS by 
researchers during tagging. All individuals recaptured 
at the KMS were males. Among the males recaptured 
at KMS, 50% were taken one month after tagging, 15% 
were taken after two months, 20% after three months, 
and 5% after 4 months. At the KMS, one male was 
recaptured twice in the same month and another male 
was taken three times over three separate months — a 
finding that demonstrates that at least some individuals 
return repeatedly within the spawning season. Out- 
side the KMS, fishermen recaptured 27 males, eight 
females, and one fish of unknown sex (at the time of 
tagging). Three additional recaptures by the fishery 
could not be identified either to sex (owing to illegibil- 
ity of the information on the tag) or to recapture loca- 
tion (which was unreported) or both sex and recapture 
location were not identified. The fishery recapture sex 
ratio (individuals of known sex taken outside the KMS) 
was 3.4:1 male:female, which matched the sex ratio of 
fish captured during initial tagging within the KMS 
(Table 1). Recaptured fish remained at liberty from 1 
Size class (mm TL) 
Figure 2 
Size frequency distribution (mm total length, TL) of square- 
tail coralgrouper ( Plectropomus areolatus , n = 647) taken by 
hook and line from the Kehpara Marine Sanctuary during the 
initial tagging exercise in 2005. White bars=females; black 
bars=males. 
to 328 days, averaging 71 days for those taken by the 
fishery and 51 days for fish retaken within the KMS by 
researchers. The maximum straight-line distance trav- 
eled by a recaptured fish was ~27 km between the KMS 
and Temmen (Fig. 1A). 
Squaretail coralgrouper appear highly vulnerable to 
fishing within and in areas immediately near the FSA 
site. A total of 97.1% of all fish were recaptured within 
12 km of the FSA site during the 17-month survey 
period, and 88% of the recaptures with reported loca- 
tions were taken from areas north of the FSA. The fish- 
ery made 61.5% of all recaptures within the 5-month 
spawning season, and 25.6% of all recaptures occurred 
during the March-April sales ban period, which dem- 
onstrates the ineffectiveness of the ban in protecting 
reproductively active fish (Table 2). Reported recaptures 
by the fishery were primarily recaptured fish from the 
inner reef, including a substantial number from areas 
immediately adjacent to Peleng Channel (42% of all in- 
dividuals) that included 88% of all females and 64% of 
male recaptured. The distribution of fishery recaptures 
significantly deviated from expectations (% 2 =10.911, 
0.25<P<0.05) based on known catch records and area- 
specific effort data taken from 2006 creel surveys of 
the commercial reef fish fishery (Fig. 1). Only 3 of 59 
recaptured fish were from locations south of KMS (Liap, 
Nalap, and Penieu), and only one individual was recap- 
tured from the eastern side of the island (Fig. 1). 
Acoustic tagging 
Of the 40 acoustically tagged fish, three individuals 
(7.5%) were recaptured by the fishery (January 2005: 
2 males; March 2005: 1 female). Immediately 
after recapture, three replacement tags were 
deployed (February 2005: 2 males; April 2005: 
1 female). Of the 43 total tag deployments, sig- 
nals following initial detections were received 
from 13 of 22 males and 10 of 21 females (54% 
overall) to indicate high tag-induced mortality 
immediately after tagging or a rapid post-tag 
departure of individuals from the FSA without 
subsequent return. No predation was observed 
at KMS during snorkel or dive operations after 
the release of tagged individuals. 
For those acoustically tagged individuals re- 
turning to the FSA, patterns of movement (sea- 
sonal and annual site visitation) were highly 
variable both within and among individuals 
(Table 3), although some individuals appeared 
to move along a common migratory corridor to 
reach the FSA where fishermen could potentially 
concentrate efforts and substantially impact re- 
productive populations. Data from four females 
and eight males provided point-to-point direc- 
tional data to show a predominantly northward 
movement away from the FSA (i.e. , north of the 
KMS southern MPA boundary) after spawning 
(Fig. IB) — a movement that is reinforced by re- 
capture data from conventional tagging (Fig. 1A). 
